Should Bert and Ernie get Married?

There seems to have been a debate on whether the two famous Muppets from Sesame Street should enter into a gay marriage.

I say no, because this is not the venue for that sort of debate, These two characters have been friends for decades, and to suddenly throw in sexuality into the mix seems Inappropriate. I don't think that children who watch that program need to be educated on sexuality quite just yet.

 

They are not getting married. Bert and Ernie are Puppets - Have No Sexual Orientation

This week, an online petition concerning Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie started making the rounds. The Facebook petition asked that Sesame Street allow the two male Muppets, who share a house and a bedroom, to be married on the show.

"We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful," the petition read. "Only that they allow Bert & Ernie to marry or even add a transgender character to the show. It can be done in a tasteful way."

The petition has 5,767 signatures so far and lots of media attention, including a piece from the Christian Science Monitor, which examined if they could even get married where they live. (They live in New York, the paper determined, so yes, they could.)

But the makers of Sesame Street, The Sesame Workshop, issued a statement on their own Facebook page today, quashing the possibility:

Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.

Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.


Personally, I'd call them "Longtime Companions" but I might be the only person here old enough to remember that phrase

 

I never saw Bert and Ernie as being gay to begin with, plus they aren't getting married. As for whether Sesame should incorporate gay characters into the mix, I don't see a problem with it. It's pretty much one of the few children's shows that specialize in bringing diversity and tolerance to infants at an early age. So, really a character that's gay wouldn't be an issue. They know how to do it. It's a matter of the audiences to not get all riled up.

 

Hey, they had a character on there who had AIDS. The show pretty much is a stepping stone for demonstrating tolerance between individuals regardless. How is that any different?

 

This is a very stupid question. The person who suggested it must had his mind in Oscar's waste can.

 

The people who are against Bert and Ernie getting married are rather silent on the matter of the frog porking the pig.

 

On a more serious level, while I dont think it is the appropriate forum on one hand, being a kids show and what not, on the other hand I couldnt think of a more appropriate one.

In my mind, homosexuality is a part of modern day life. One everyone should learn to accept and be tolerant of regardless of sexual orientation. If we can educate kids towards being open minded to non-hetero sexuality at a young age then I think it is a good thing overall. Getting married is harmless. It's not like actual sex is going to be involved; two men who love each other and live together want to make a lifelong commitment to each other. I see no issue with it.

 

Yep. I wonder why cross-species sex gets their ok, but boy-on-boy muppeting is all wrong.

And I'm with you on your other post - my son has known LGBT people all his life. I have too. The difference is that when I was a kid, it was closeted. There was my mother's friend who ran the Spiritualist Temple, and his "roommate," the local librarian who was 50 ish, never married, wore sensible shoes and who never ever brought a date to anything, there was my theatre teacher and his "roommate."....all those people who lived their lives in secret. I had good friends when I was about 20 - two men who had lived together for over 20 years at that point. Even the mother of one of them referred to their bedroom as "the boys room" as though they had bunkbeds or were away at camp or something. It's a difficult way to live, to have to hide who you are and the people you love, I'd imagine. I'm glad things are changing, and I wish they'd change faster.

 

I cant rep you woman but damn that had me laughing out loud!

 

LOL Thanks!

 

Miss Piggy isn't on Sesame Street.

 

Reminds me of one of my favourite jokes...

Q. What's green and smells like pork?
A. Kermits finger

 

Honestly, they are puppets who gives a fuck?

 

Are you fucking serious? They wanna turn them into faggots? Why? Whats the need for it? As a kid I always saw them as two straight guys now all of a sudden they are gonna be gay out of nowhere? It doesnt make since.

 

THEY ARE PUPPETS!!!! and not human who cares if they are anything????????

 

:smt045 :smt045 :smt045

 

Myself.....I am up for some man on man puppet love!

 

Hears the song Muskrat Love playing in my head......words are changed to puppet love.

 

I don't think that is quite what the Captain and Tanille (sp) had in mind!

 

I reckon that Ernie would be the power bottom out of the two